Pediatricians warn raw milk can be harmful to children and pregnant women

Got raw milk? More and more kids around America do and pediatricians are saying this isn’t a good thing. (Getty)

A small but passionate and potentially growing group of parents choose to give their children raw milk because they believe an unpasteurized product is healthier than a pasteurized one. They think the heating and cooling process ruins a significant portion of milk’s nutritional value. While pasteurization kills harmful pathogens, raw milk advocates believe it also kills immune-boosting microbes, bacteria, proteins and vitamins. These “friendly bugs” they believe can prevent allergies and lactose intolerance, both growing problems among America’s youth.

Today, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a statement warning parents that the health claims around raw milk aren’t backed by solid science and that the potential for life-threatening diseases in raw milk is real. The risk overwhelmingly outweighs any benefits, the AAP states. Even though the sale of unpasteurized milk is still legal in at least 30 states in the United States, including California, the AAP says infants, children and pregnant women should not consume it. The national pediatric group said it also “endorses a ban on the sale of raw or unpasteurized milk and milk products throughout the United States, including the sale of certain raw milk cheeses, such as fresh cheese, soft cheeses and soft-ripened cheeses.”

The authors of the statement, led by Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of pediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine, note that from 1998 to 2009, there were 93 recorded cases of disease outbreaks associated with raw milk or raw milk products that caused 1,837 illnesses, 195 hospitalizations and two deaths. The majority of the infections were caused by E. coli, Salmonella or Campylobacter infection.

“We invented pasteurization to prevent these horrible diseases,” Dr. Maldonado said in a statement to Time.com. “There is really no good reason to drink unpasteurized milk.”